North Carolina
UNC faces unknowns as basketball season approaches
By Dane Huffman Oct 16, 2009
Chapel Hill, N.C. — In a season of unknowns, this much hasn’t changed about North Carolina – expectations are still enormous.
Even coach Roy Williams expressed surprise on Thursday at preseason picks that the Tar Heels remain in the top five.
Top five nationally? Williams joked that he would have expected to see Carolina picked in that range in the ACC.
“I’m shocked. I really am,” Williams said Thursday at the Smith Center.
North Carolina was in a similar situation entering the 2005-06 season. The Tar Heels had won the 2005 national title and had their roster depleted after that. But a young team, led by senior David Noel and a strong recruiting class was the surprise of the ACC that season.
Carolina could be strong again this season, but the Heels won’t be picked for the bottom of the league.
“It’s hard for me to go in there and say, ‘OK nobody thinks we’re going to be any good,’” Williams said of meeting with his team.
“I used that card a little bit in ‘06. I can’t use that card this time.”
Still, UNC faces significant unknowns. The backcourt, where Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington were three-year starters before leaving for the NBA, has to be rebuilt.
“Two things are unknown about our team – the guard play and the three-point shooting,” Williams said.
Larry Drew, a sophomore, is the likely starter at point guard. Williams’ praised Drew’s defensive ability but noted Drew doesn’t have the ability to shoot from the outside or slash to the basket that Lawson displayed.
Marcus Ginyard will be back after missing most of last season and will contribute on the wings and perhaps some at point guard.
Ginyard, a fifth-year senior, already has made his mark in preseason.
“He was the star of the show on the conditioning test,” Williams said. “He was phenomenal.”
Two freshmen, 6-3 Dexter Strickland and 6-4 Leslie McDonald, will battle for minutes in the backcourt. And 6-6 Will Graves could play a key role after being suspended in early February last year for violating team rules. Williams pointedly said he hoped the suspension “hurt” but said Graves could become Carolina’s best outside shooter and best rebounder from the perimeter.
One major factor on the perimeter could be 6-10 freshman John Henson, a Parade All-America who is lean but talented.
Carolina is in much better shape inside, even with all-time great Tyler Hansbrough now in the NBA. Williams said he told Deon Thompson, a 6-foot-9 senior, that he doesn’t have to try to be Carolina’s leading scorer or replace Hansbrough – just be the best player he can be.
Ed Davis, a 6-10 sophomore, is back inside and could emerge as one of the ACC’s better players. He steadily progressed last season and had 11 points and eight rebounds in just 14 minutes in the national title game.
But Davis hasn’t counted on to carry a team yet, adding to the uncertainties about this club.
Williams said the UNC coaching staff had a retreat Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to discuss the season.
“The biggest conclusion was we don’t know. We don’t know what we have,” Williams said. “We don’t know what John Henson can do on the perimeter. We don’t know if Ed Davis has improved his inside scoring.”
Copyright 2012 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Most Recent Comments
UNC Basketball
Spoken like a true state fan. Why get excited for basketball?
- Posted by Tar Heels Fan
Spoken like a true Carolina fan -- getting excited about basketball in October since your football team is already as good as done by then.
Sad, but true.
Sorry, jgunn. I was hoping you wouldn't read that. That was intended for a few of the other Carolina fans on here.
No worries. You spoke the truth (very fitting, considering your screen name)
Football VS Basketball
Why are there basketball blogs in mid-October?
I can understand the occasional blog when a high school player commits. That's current news. But basketball? In October? Really?
I hardly even watch a game until January. Football needs to run its course first. Back off, secondary sport of basketball!
- Posted by TruthBKnown Returns
I just re-read your post. Basketball the "second sport"??? Be still my heart!! To me, football is merely the appetizer for the main entree of basketball:-)
I was waiting for someone to catch that! :)
From the minute I understood the game of football, I've loved every minute of it. There's just so much more to a football game. I don't even care about the first half of a basketball game. I like to watch every second of a football game. I even stayed to the end of the Duke fiasco!
The way you described football is EXACTLY the way I feel about basketball. I used to watch my brother play in highschool. I am so old, I used to watch the local ABA (now that's OLD) team play - the (then) NY Nets at the Nassau Collesium. I love basketball so much, I can watch it at any level (and I think I have). But, like you once said, football is so much more complex, and the more you understand, the more you will like the game. I don't understand all the intracacies of football. The bounces that went Duke's way in the game were so unusual. The Panthers had some similar bounces in their game against the Skins. I had never seen some of that stuff. At any rate, you are the best fan ever and State is lucky to have someone like you pulling for them.
RE: UNC faces unknowns as basketball season approaches
williamett.....You need to stop b/c you are making me laugh too hard, with the garbage Carolina has this year, they will be lucky to win 16 games.
- Posted by fideloco
I don't know about that, but that 3rd in the nation ranking is dubious at best. But we'll find that out soon enough, like we did in football. The media loves 'em some Tar Heels.
Yeah - Thank God for the UNC J-School, right? :-)
Seriously, I don't drink that Koolaid. You're right in that we'll see when they play the games and the pre-season polls go out the window.
Carolina might just be worthy of that ranking. But they lost nearly their entire team. Only Carolina could do that and return with a top-3 preseason ranking.
The key word being "preseason".
RE: UNC faces unknowns as basketball season approaches
Remember, the unknowns they have will be unknown until they know how the unknowns will come out after their first win and their first loss, all within the bounds of the programs football and other sports. With others a factors and with not. Roy does not know how to coach if the game is in the side and not on the court. They will not win a game until the season starts and then, only if they score more than the other team. Look how many times they lost when they did not score a ration of points.
- Posted by ptsdoha
This is priceless. There are not enough adult beverages or "I'll smoke what he's smokin'" on God's green earth for this post to EVER make sense. But, thanks for the laugh. Priceless.
The very first sentence gave me a headache. I swear, I didn't even TRY to read the rest of that post. :)
RE: UNC faces unknowns as basketball season approaches
Why are there basketball blogs in mid-October?
I can understand the occasional blog when a high school player commits. That's current news. But basketball? In October? Really?
I hardly even watch a game until January. Football needs to run its course first. Back off, secondary sport of basketball!
- Posted by TruthBKnown Returns
Spoken like a true state fan. Why get excited for basketball?
Spoken like a true Carolina fan -- getting excited about basketball in October since your football team is already as good as done by then.
Sad, but true.
Sorry, jgunn. I was hoping you wouldn't read that. That was intended for a few of the other Carolina fans on here.
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